As a part of Sharp & Carter’s Corporate Social Responsibility, we are excited to launch the Sharp & Carter Corporate Volunteering Program in 2017. This new initiative gives staff one day a year to volunteer their time to a nominated charity that we have partnered with. This program very much aligns with the Sharp & Carter values of generosity and giving. Our first volunteering day was in January where we partnered with the Not-For-Profit, Foodbank.

WHO IS FOODBANK

Foodbank is a non-denominational, non-profit organisation which acts as a pantry to the charities and community groups who feed the hungry. It was first established in 1992 in NSW and now has a presence in every state and the Northern Territory with distribution centres in all state capitals as well as a number of regional centres. They operate with a staff of approximately 90 employees and over 3,000 volunteers.

Foodbank is a conduit between the food industry’s surplus food and the welfare sector’s need. Last year alone, they provided enough food for over 60 million meals.Foodbank is by far, the largest hunger relief organisation in Australia. https://www.foodbank.org.au/

HOW DID WE HELP

Between our Melbourne volunteers, 17 pallets and 1,400kg of mixed groceries were packed, totalling an enormous 5,941kg. This equates to over 10,700 meals. Among the welfare agencies we packed for were The Wellington Centre Collingwood, Warrnabool and Districts Foodshare and Wingate Avenue Children’s Cooperative.

This was a humbling experience for our volunteers, they all found it extremely rewarding. It was great to know that from offering up one day of work, we were able to contribute such an enormous amount of meals for people in need.

We will continue to partner with Foodbank and already have further days scheduled this year for our Melbourne and NSW offices.